Sports

Wiggins opens season with 3A No. 1 ranked Valley

Tigers get two wins in dual

Wiggins junior Marc Barkdoll works from top position in his match with Javan Valdez of Valley on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017. (Brandon Boles / Fort Morgan Times)

WIGGINS — Just over a week into the regular season, the Wiggins wrestling team had yet to compete. They finally got the chance to wrestle some competition on Thursday at the Wiggins Event Center and begin the season.

"It was about time," Wiggins coach Dave Croissant said. "We've been beating the crap out of each other for a little longer than we wanted. It was good to go up against somebody else."

The team that Wiggins faced in the opening dual was the Valley Vikings, a powerhouse team in the Patriot League and class 3A wrestling. The Vikings have won numerous team state titles back-to-back in recent history.

"You always want to test yourself against the best," Croissant said. "They certainly look like the best. It is good judge where you are against a team like that."

Valley would receive a number of forfeits and won four of the six matches on Tuesday to get the 58-9 victory at the Wiggins Event Center.

Marc Barkdoll kicked off the dual at 106 pounds and recorded the first win of the night for Wiggins. Following some early tie ups, Barkdoll landed a takedown and scored some back points for the early lead. A reversal from bottom position late in the first period put him in front 8-2. As the match wore on, he started to tire out for Valley's Javan Valdez to get back in the match with takedowns in the second and third period.

Late in the third period, Valdez let Barkdoll get back to neutral position with seconds to go to trail 9-7 and looked for another takedown late for the chance to tie the match. His move backfired as Barkdoll landed a takedown and scored three back points in the final few seconds to get the 14-7 decision win.

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"He is getting there," Croissant said of Barkdoll. "He didn't wrestle much for us last year. It's all about getting in wrestling shape for him. He's right on track for us."

Valley recorded its first win at 120 pounds when Javier Gonzalez scored an early takedown and won by fall in 34 seconds to Alex Hishinuma. In the third dual, Andre Guevara scored a takedown in each of the three periods and went on to win by majority decision 10-0 over Cael Croissant. The Vikings would then record their first two forfeits of the night at 138 and 145.

Brynden Wilson made his season debut at 152 pounds and faced Kyle Bol. Two takedowns early gave Bol the lead and he would sink in the pin early in the third period from top position to win by fall. Following two more forfeits at 160 and 170, the Vikings got their final head-to-head win at 182 when Josh Flanagan locked a cradle to get the win by fall over Elias Dodge.

Wiggins would end the night on a positive note with Devon Harshman's win at 195 pounds. He scored an early takedown and stayed on top of Sammy Marceleno the entire time. Harshman would then role him over and win by fall in 1:18 for the lone pin for the Tigers.

"Devon has a lot of raw talent," Croissant said. "If we can harness it, and get him healthy to the end of the season, he's going to be right in the mix. His athleticism is going to make a big difference."

The dual ended with Valley getting two more forfeits at 220 and 285 pounds.

Croissant called Thursday's dual a good measuring point for his team and said that getting out to an aggressive start in matches will be the focus moving forward to the Limon tournament on Saturday.

"I thought we were really hesitant tonight," Crossiant said. "We have some things to work on, but this was our first match of the season. I think that comes from being the first time out for us."

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